Zakspeed Escort out the auction and onto the track

Fresh from its appearance back in March at 74MM, the Mondeo comes from the era when BTCC team budgets had spiralled out of the control. For the 2000 season, Ford had budget of a rumoured £12m. A million of that went into building the car, which makes the £83,250 it sold for seem something of a bargain (especially when you consider that people pay more for a road-going Ford Sierra RS500 Cosworth). The sale included more than just the car, too, with a full equipe including a whole array of spares, different gear ratios, engine warming system and much more. 

It wasn’t the only Ford saloon to go under the hammer at the Silverstone Classic sale. Zakspeed was best known for its Group 2 Escorts and Group 5 Capris, and this lot is an accurate recreation of the former. Complete with a 2.0-litre BDG engines and full Group 2 specification, it is well established in historic motorsport and has plenty of lap records and race wins to its name. Being sold on Saturday, the sale included an entry to Sunday’s Historic Touring Car Challenge for its £57,380 sale price. The old Ford adage of ‘win on Sunday, sell on Monday’ was reversed. This one sold on Saturday and was raced on Sunday.

There was something of a racing saloon car theme at this year’s sale, with a 1998 Nissan Primera Super Touring car, 1995 Alfa Romeo 155 touring car replica and two Austins – 1954 A30 Speedwell and 1959 A40 Farina – included in the sale. Of those, only the A30 found a buyer, at £30,150.